Pope Innocent X (May 6, 1574 - January 7, 1655), born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj (or Pamphili), was Pope from 1644 to 1655 . Born in Rome of a family from Gubbio in Umbria who had come to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Innocent IX, he graduated from the Collegio Romano and followed a conventional cursus honorum, following his uncle Girolamo Pamphilj as auditor of the Rota, and like him, attaining the dignity of cardinal, in 1629. Trained as a lawyer, he succeeded Pope Urban VIII (1623-44) on September 15, 1644, as one of the most politically shrewd pontiffs of the era, who much increased the temporal power of the Vatican. He was a great-great-great-grandson of Pope Alexander VI.